Wasp To `Come Alive'today At Naval Yard

NORFOLK — The men of the amphibious assault ship Wasp were so proud of their new ship at Norfolk Naval Base on Friday, they couldn't wait to show it off.

"Family tours will NOT be conducted until tomorrow," barked the executive officer over the ship's loudspeaker about 2 p.m. Friday.

"Those personnel with family members aboard, please finish your tours as soon as possible and escort them OFF THE SHIP. Then, let's get back to work. We have a lot to do before tomorrow," the executive officer said to several chagrined crewmen.

The more than 1,000 Navy men aboard the Wasp were painting, cleaning and moving equipment Friday in preparation for the commissioning of the largest combat ship built - save for the aircraft carrier - since World War II.

"That's our particular uniqueness, the ability to carry both the LCAC and Harrier AV-8," said Capt. Leonard F. Picotte, commanding officer of the Wasp since the spring of 1988.

The first of its class, the Wasp is the only ship designed to carry both the Marines' new air-cushion landing craft, also known as LCAC, used for fast troop movement over both land and sea, and the Harrier jet, capable of both vertical and horizontal takeoff and landings.

When the USS Wasp "comes alive" today at official commissioning ceremonies, it will be able to take the place of 30 ships - or an entire amphibious assault group - on combat seas.

It will be able to embark a Marine landing force of nearly 2,000 troops, support their amphibious assault of a position using helicopters or air-cushioned landing craft, or both, at the same time, and coordinate the attack from more than 100 miles away.

Although designed to replace the Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ships, it can effectively do the job of four different classes of ships, said Chief Petty Officer Dale Dewar, an operations specialist aboard the Wasp.

While the ship can conduct operations while standing off shore like an aircraft carrier, the Wasp also has a combat information center with radar and computer technology capable of tracking "over the horizon" or out-of-sight amphibious landings, Dewar said.

In the combat information center, two blue television monitors 6 feet tall can give the cap tain at a glance radar positions of other ships in the group or of assault ships over the horizon.

Smaller screens and instruments on the right side of the center, which is at the heart of the ship below decks, monitor and control ships' operation while equipment on the left side of the center controls air operations.

The over-the-horizon capability means the more high-ranking Marine officers no longer have to accompany troops to shore, but rather can conduct operations from the Wasp, which will act as a flagship, Dewar said.

In the event of a conflict, the Wasp can also be used as a hospital ship.

It has six operating rooms, and using the empty beds of Marines involved in shore assaults, can become a 600-bed, fully equipped hospital.